From my blog: On Starships and Dragonwings

I’ve been following L.K. Hill’s blog for a while now, and hearing about the updates as she made progress towards getting Persistence of Vision published at the beginning of this year. It was a pretty fun process to read about and cheer on, and I always enjoy the glimpses into the publishing world that author blogs give us ;-). I was super excited when Hill emailed me about her blog tour, since Persistence of Vision sounded like the perfect sci-fi dystopia for me! Thank you again for the review copy :D.

Title: Persistence of Vision
Author: Liesel K. Hill
Length: 386 pages
Genre-ish: Sci-fi/Dystopia (with time-travel!)
Rating: ★★★★☆- fresh sci-fi with great characters

Strengths:
The premise of Persistence of Vision is awesome with all the different neurological abilities and the collectives taking over the world. I haven’t read anything similar recently, which was a lot of fun!
It was a cool idea to have the main character suffer memory loss previously. I haven’t seen that done before either in the way Persistence of Vision uses it.
The romance element is adorable if a bit strained due to the circumstances. I think a lot of people will wish that it had more of a presence ;-).
Wow the villain plot twists, just wow.
There were some very moving scenes in Persistence of Vision, especially about 1/3 through the book, that really helped me connect with Maggie. She is a main character that I want on my team.
Weaknesses:
I sort of wish there was a prequel to Persistence of Vision, or maybe a lot of flashbacks in the next book? Maggie’s memory loss ended up being a bit disorienting and made some things less climatic (like the big villain plot twist, if you know what I mean).
I’ve never liked the whole “humans only use 10% of their brain” explanation for super powers, since it’s just not really an accurate description of how the human brain works….
There is a character called the Remembrancer, and for some reason that word just doesn’t work for me. It just sounds like a silly word a kid would make up, but I could be crazy or overly picky…. Did that bother anyone else?
Summary:
If you have been on the hunt for a great sci-fi with some cool neurological powers and a dystopia element, then you have to check out Persistence of Vision. I’m so freaking excited for the sequel, since there is a lot left to get discovered :D. While there were a couple things that bothered me, those were probably peculiarities of mine, so if they don’t sound annoying to you, don’t even worry about it ;-). I especially like the classic sci-fi feel of addressing concerns about morality through the use of storytelling, since the collectives do try at points to justify themselves as the correct way to live. Persistence of Vision raises great questions about what you would do in a similar circumstance, or how human kind could possibly have avoided the road it went down. I’m very much looking forward to reading anything Hill writes next :). ( )

This review has been crossposted from my blog at The Cosy Dragon . Please head there for more in-depth reviews by me, which appear on a timely schedule.

Some authors just have a spark in them that makes their worlds come alive in new and exciting ways. Leisel Hill is one of those authors. This is her first novel that I have read, and man, I can't wait to get my hands on the other ones in this series.

When I wasn't reading this novel, such as when I was at work, I couldn't resist thinking about it and mulling over what would happen next. I could say I was captivated by it! However, the attraction wasn't so strong that it overcame my willpower to work - which is actually a good point for me.

Maggie's character is so nicely realised. Her actions speak so much louder than her words, yet her words are natural and fit well with the rest of the dialogue. The whole concept (which I don't want to spoil for you) of losing time and memories is a fascinating one, particularly when there are others that know what has happened - and things are understandably awkward because of this.

I think there was just one section where things didn't add up for me, and this was the Trackers sent out to find Nat. Now that I've perked your ears up for that, you can keep an eye out and see if you notice the same discrepancy. Other than that, the twisting story and what each character knows about each situation is kept strictly under wraps, which adds an element of surprise, as well as being the reason you keep reading.

I never knew I could enjoy a dystopian sci-fi so much! The concepts were really fascinating, and I really could see how the world we are currently inhabiting could go the way of this novel. It wasn't unbelievable, and the science that was included fitted with what I know already.

This is a novel written by an author who knows what the formula for a good book is, yet has adapted it to produce a great book. I follow Leisel's blog, and she often posts about how to write good novels, and she has used those techniques to great effect in her work.

The ending was just as good/bad as I hoped. Good, because it was satisfying, bad because this book is only just being released, and I want more right now!!! There were some nice additional twists that got me onto the edge of my seat, and everything was just awesome.

I requested this novel from the author, and was lucky enough to receive a beautiful paperback of it. This has in no way influenced my review, although I have promoted this novel on my blog as much as possible because it's a great book. ( )

Actual rating: 3.5

(This review was originally posted at My Library in the Making.)

I'm not a huge fan of sci-fi novels. Give me lengthy descriptions and I'll get bored; don't explain anything at all and I'll be left confused and irritated. Thankfully, Persistence of Vision ended up becoming one of the few sci-fi novels that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The story had been quite slow to take off, but once it did, I simply couldn't stop reading. I was thrust into a world of time travelers and prophecies and underground - literally - movements that made this book really exciting. I pitied the main character, Maggie, because even though she knew little about the truth, she was being attacked by assassins with weird tattoos on their faces. Lucky for her, she had a savior in Marcus.

Aside from Maggie, I loved all the other characters in here. Each one of them had their own colorful stories to tell, making them relatable and feel like real people. They all had their own personal tragedies thanks to the collectives who were trying to pursue them, but it was in those tragedies where they drew strength to keep their humanity. They were all truly admirable.

The research made to support the plot was obviously extensive. The science was amazing. I know most of it to be true in real life, and the others I'm not sure about don't seem so far-fetched, either, adding to the haunting factor of this book. This book not only taught me new things, but also reminded me of the stuff I'd already learned. Reading it was like sitting through my Science classes from before, which I really enjoyed.

Persistence of Vision was a joy to read. It had all the elements that I love in a story: adventure, action, romance, and high stakes, and already I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.

MY FAVORITE PART was when Maggie was re-learning her forgotten relationships. ( )

Review on blog: http://tumblinginbooks.blogspot.com/2013/02/persistence-of-vision-by-liesel-k-hi...

Who cares about that weird tattooed eye man cover? This book is freaking awesome! Mind power y’all!

I admit, it starts off a bit slow in the beginning of the book what with the scientific terms and all(maybe I was just having a reading slump. But thank God that I’m in Sophomore year or I won’t be able to understand those scientific terms!). But once it was through with that phase everything was like a climax!

In Persistence of Vision, it definitely shows that Liesel K. Hill did her research. Sometime in the future, everyone have this ability to just almost ANYTHING with their mind. It’s kind of like super powers. And of course, everyone has their own abilities. But she made it SO REALISTIC and I was amazed by that. And OMG! That ending! No, it’s not a cliffhanger. But it just… makes me… want to read Book 2 in like, NOW!

Persistence of Vision is filled with originality. Although I go nuts over YA contemporary and paranormal, dystopian and such, it’s nice to sometimes get out from the YA category. It has a well-constructed plot and jaw-dropping plot twists. The characters are also very likeable. And it even has scenes that just make you want to crawl into bed and cry or something like that. It has all of the above elements just don’t expect this book to be filled with love story from page 1 until the end. Don’t get me wrong, it does have a love story, it’s just that it’s more action-y than lovey-dovey ;)

Seriously you guys! Give this book a shot. You might like it. Especially lovers of action books. This book might surprise you. ( )

I wish there was a perfect way to start book reviews. I always feel like I start them somewhere in the middle. So, this is me, attempting to start from the beginning this time.

Like I said up there, I had NO idea what to truly expect from this book, as with every other book, yes, but I can pretty much guess, by NOW, what paths a dystopian novel favours. Liesel deems this book a "New Adult futuristic dystopian fantasy," I will just go ahead and add "A work of pure GENIUS" to that, thank you very much. This book opened exactly where books should open, SMACK DAB in the middle of the action.

It begins with Maggie. She's battling the densely packed streets of a Vegas street on her way to have dinner with her brother and his new girlfriend. Skip forward a few, and we find them BOTH, Maggie and her brother, in the middle of a hotel floor, with no recollection of the last few hours-BAM! Figure that one out. At this point, I thought it would take at LEAST another few chapters before we, the readers, would be let in on the "bigger picture." But Liesel, bless her abilities, didn't force us to wait that long. Just like that, it's a year since the incident, and we quickly find out that in the future, the ability to link minds neurologically has become the downfall of society, and individualism is a sought after "evil." We then meet a group of individuals who are pushing against the tide; who are trying to put an end to "collectivism."

I won't delve into the role Maggie plays in all of this, nor anymore about how the books plays out, but OH.MY.GOODNESS. My brain was on FIRE with delight, awe, and AMAZEMENT at Liesel's explanations of how this new society came to be. I LITERALLY wanted to find out her number, call her, and commend her on such beautiful INTRICACY, such thought out details! I sat there thinking, "WHOA..this could TOTALLY happen one day." As I read on, I expected to hit a snag, to become somewhat confused by the science of it all, but I NEVER did. Liesel is extraordinarily skilled with her words; with her ability to explain something that could have easily gotten lost in technicalities. *Happy sigh*..AMAZING.

I enjoyed EVERY character's role in this book, especially Doc's, the unofficial "leader" of the group, and Karl, the team's time traveler! How.cool.is.THAT? The whole "essence" of the team felt very reminiscent of teams from TV shows that I grew up enjoying, namely: Futurama, and Star Trek. Those of you who read this book might get what I mean. I even caught a little inkling of John Wyndham's "The Chrysalids," somewhere in my head. All of those happy things only made me enjoy this book THAT much more. The ONLY qualm I had was that I couldn't really picture what Maggie looked like in my head, I feel like there wasn't enough of a description of her-but that was just a TINY bubble of negative in a SEA of positive.

Otherwise, I THOROUGHLY enjoyed how this book played out. The realizations, the planning, the accusations, the obstacles-everything was SO brilliantly placed and thought through. Liesel K. Hill really outdid her self with this book, I felt like she thought of everything, leaving no holes for us to fall through. The ending was EXACTLY what I hoped it would be and more. It left me satisfied, albeit a "sitting on the edge of my seat" satisfied-that scene was right where it should have been. I don't know if I can WAIT for the second installment..I'm going to need me some of that time travelling ability. I'll see what I can do ;). ( )